Spotlight On Writers
Lisa Reynolds
- Where do you originate from?
I was born in Scarborough, Ontario and moved several times throughout the Greater Toronto Area before settling in Durham Region.
- What do you cherish most about the place you call home?
Durham Region consists of eight municipalities: Ajax, Brock, Clarington, Oshawa, Pickering, Scugog, Uxbridge, and Whitby. I have lived in three of the eight, each one on the shores of Lake Ontario.
For me, home is more than brick and mortar. It is beauty found in landscapes and within nurturing communities. This is what I cherish.
- What ignites your creativity?
Positive energy flowing within writing communities such as The Ontario Poetry Society, the League of Canadian Poets, The Writers’ Union of Canada, and the Writers’ Community of Durham Region, ignites my creativity. Interactions between members are encouraging and celebratory.
My creative process is influenced by life experiences; mine and those of others. Journal writing provides the basis for my poems and stories. I expand on themes. Seek connections. Aim for authenticity.
I read poetry for pleasure and to improve on craft. I regularly attend writing workshops and poetry readings offered on Zoom.
I am in awe of creative talent.
- Do you have a favorite word and could you incorporate it into a poetic phrase?
My favorite word is maybe. There are possibilities with maybe – whereas no is definitive, like a period at the end of a sentence. How it stops. Like how life sometimes just stops.
Maybe the bile in his throat won’t choke him while he sleeps.
Maybe if I hold his hand long enough, he’ll wake and remember my name.
- What is your pet peeve?
Able-bodied people who illegally park in areas designated for people with disabilities.
- How would you describe the essence of Lisa Reynolds?
It has taken a long time for me to accept personal challenges as strengths not weaknesses. Even longer to share my thoughts openly, something I was raised not to do.
Navigating life while living with chronic illness is difficult. I don’t sugarcoat that fact.
I write raw. Confess what I need to. Reveal uncomfortable truths.
A reader once said, I made him look inside himself and he didn’t like what he saw.
I didn’t take offense.
- Spotlight On Writers – Lisa Reynolds - November 16, 2024
- Fault Lines - August 28, 2024
- Her Bite at Midnight - November 4, 2023
